


Morsel

by Alliswell



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, In celebration of Halloween, Thriller, dark!characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-31
Updated: 2016-10-31
Packaged: 2018-08-28 05:17:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8433250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alliswell/pseuds/Alliswell
Summary: Katniss finds herself prisoner inside an old cellar without memory of she got there, while there's a threat trying to take over our way of life. Happy Halloween everyone!





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is a work of fanfiction. I do not own anything. 
> 
> This was posted hurriedly, and unbetaed. Excuse my horrendous mistakes and if you find contradictions in tense. Totally my fault. 
> 
> Smutt, and little OOC for main characters.

My name is Katniss Everdeen, I'm twenty years old, and I've been abducted and imprisoned in someone's cellar for the last two days, I only know this because the bastard keeping my locked up in here, has an old radio just outside the door, that he or she keeps under lock and key at all times.

The radio will suddenly come to life every once in a while, to let me know the latest developments on the war front... _How considerate of my kidnaper_ , I think bitterly, every time the newscaster says the troops are advancing inland into country territory smack where my family is, and I can't free myself from this cell!

If I had the energy, I would run headlong into the cellar door, and try to throw my full body weight against it, but I know by experience it's futile. I did that all day yesterday, and only managed to bruise my shoulders. Another injury I had to add to the ones I been finding on myself since I came to in this place.

I can't quite remember how I got here, it all started a couple of days ago, when a foreign country declared war on us, and then out of nowhere started bombing the East Coast. The government scrambled around until they deployed the biggest chunk of our military to the defend the area, which proved to be a fool's errand, since the bombings were a ruse to distract everyone until they were close enough to us on the other front, and invaded the West Coast.

I'm currently attending college in Virginia, but my whole family lives in North Carolina, so I hopped in my car and dashed back home. I was only 500 ft from my County Line, when out of the blue, a family of deer jumped out of the brush lining the road, and onto the street. I was coming too fast, nearly 70mph on a 45mph backroad. Even standing up on my breaks, I couldn't stop in time.

I woke up here, in this danky smelling cellar. There isn't much ventilation to speak off, and there's one measly light bulb hanging from a chain above my head. I haven't seen my abductor's face, but I have a bandage on my forehead, a pair of wooly socks covering my feet, my finger nails have been cut and filed, and a thick blanket sits on the air mattress I've woke up on. There's a bucket and toilet paper in one corner of the small dark room, and a tray with food appeared this morning, but I haven't touched it yet.

I've been screaming at the top of my lungs for hours at a time. I beg my captor to let me go, that I need to get somewhere; I haven't mentioned Prim's name at all, because everyone in town knows our mother and being so close to my house, I don't want to send whoever is keeping me here, after them.

I'm sure they wouldn't have recognized me even if they saw me at midday; after wearing my hair in a long braid my whole life, I finally broke down and cut it so the tips of it now barely brush the base of my neck, not quite reaching the shoulder. I've also gained ten pounds giving me pronounced curves I never had while living here. I'm confident, no one just looking at me, would recognize me right away.

The radio goes off again, something about our guys gaining territory in Georgia. Half of Savannah was on fire a couple of days ago. Such a shame. But I guess man will destroy anything they can put their hands on for vengeance. I try hard to stay focused on the radio, the sounds are coming in garbled and staticky. My eyelids droop, I haven't slept at all since I woke up yesterday, fatigue is winning, my eyes itch from straining open all this time, I think it'll be okay to close them for a moment, just to let them rest and re-moisturize.

 

* * *

 

"Get out of my way!"

I jump out of my mattress startled with the loud growl that came from the floor above.

"No! You get out of they way, old bastard!"

My heart was already drumming fast in my chest, for being woken up like that, but, I recognize that voice! My heart is now beating so fast I think I might go into cardiac arrest any moment now. Still, this punch of adrenaline is what I needed to get my muscles going and my brain firing up commands.

"Step away from that door, sonny. If you know what's good for you. You should leave this place for good!" The other voice is raspy, wheezy, from an older man. I recognize it too, and now my head's spinning.

"Don't you even dare touch her! I won't let you!" The younger voice growls again, and there's scoffing of furniture trailing down from upstairs.

I start screaming his name before I can check myself, "Peeta! Peeta, down here! Peeta, help me!" The last scraps of my voice come out shaky, and I wish I had saved it for right now when there's actually a chance someone will hear me.

I look around and see the bucket as the only useful tool down here; I pick it up and stand on the mattress, holding the butt of the bucket towards the door, and rush to it. I repeat the same motions over and over, all the while trying to scream Peeta Mellark's name the best I can.

I can hear the sickening squishy thwack of fists colliding with flesh, followed by grunts and moans. I keep going at it with the bucket until the old wood cracks and gives way. The hole is only big enough to squeeze my arm through, so I stick my face into the hole and scream Peeta's name again.

I'm overjoyed when I hear his voice faintly, call back my name, "Katniss?" He's in the middle of saying "I'll be there with you in a minute," but I guess during the time he took to assured me help was coming, his attacker took advantage of his momentary distraction, because I hear a thunderous noise of furniture breaking and then an eerie quiet falls over the place.

I started to panic.

Then to my horror, I hear heavy footsteps limping down what I figure is the staircase leading to the cellar.

I take my bucket again, and stand with my back flushed against the cold brick wall, next to the door.

The footsteps stop. I bite my lips so hard, I draw blood, and then the knob rattles for a second, before a deafening blow makes the door fly open, hinges hanging on the smooth side of the frame, defeated.

I rise my bucket, intent of slam it down my captor's head, but as soon as he shuffles inside, I'm met with a mop of blond hair, instead of the semi bald head I was expecting.

"Peeta!" I cry out as loud as my broken voice allows, and throw my arms around his neck.

He doesn't lose any time at all to respond with a low sigh of relief.

"Katniss..." He breathes out, and steps away from me, framing my face between his two thick hands. "You alright?" He asks with concern in his voice.

"I'm fine," I croak out. "I'll be better once we get out of here, and back to my momma and Prim,"

He nods, and slides his hand to the small of my back, "Let's get going then..."

I feel his presence before I see him, but my reactionary impulses betray me, "Peeta, look out!"

I warned him too late.

Old, slimy Sheriff Cray hit him in the back of the head with what I think was wooded chair leg. Peeta collapses on the floor at my feet, and I have no voice left to scream in horror.

"Well, well, well, miss Everdeen. Welcome home! It seems young Mr. Mellark wanted you all to himself... Can't say I blame him," his eyes roam over my body in that hungry stare he saves for underage girls that stray too far from home and decide to work the streets in order to sustain themselves.

Our district is full of them, because Cray cuts deals on their behalf with the judges. Most everyone knows he's shady as hell, but so far none of the girls have come forth accusing him of any wrongdoing, so, there hasn't been a crime commited according to the law. Meanwhile, we believe he blackmails the girls into staying around and service him, or be sent to jail. Can't prove it though. The bastard knows how to cover his dirty paws.

"Peeta's my friend. He only wants me safe, unlike you. Don't think you'll be able to buy my silence Cray. I will go straight to Judge Coin and make a bulletproof case against you!" I manage to spew in my barely there voice.

Cray laughs mockingly, and steps over Peeta's inert body, as I step backwards until he's got me pressed against the wall on top of the mattress.

"You sure about that missy? You really can't be that stupid and blind, girl!" He crows, "The way that boy has always looked at you. The hunger etched in his eyes, the way he lingers when you aren't paying attention..." He laughs again. "It takes one like me, to know one of him. And you my dear, are a tasty little morsel!"

I whimper when his nasty, pudgy hand slides all the way from my cheek to my waist. I try to push him off, but he presses more firmly against me, and then cackles loudly.

"But the thing that kills me, little girl, is the fact that you believe anyone would be paying attention to a whiny little thing such as yourself, while our country is busy solving a war conflict in our very soil." His hand groups my thighs, my hips and waist, I try to fight him off but I'm too weak, "Dead girls can talk, anyway. It's a shame, Imma have to deliver the sad news to your mamma and sister at the shelter they got evacuated to. I can imagine it already, pretty young thing, baby Everdeen, crying her pretty blue eyes out about her sister being found dead and raped by the side of the road. Don't worry my pet, I'll take care of that little morsel too! Maybe I could say I saw Mr. Mellark dumping your lifeless body. Shot him dead, I'll be a fucking hero!"

"No one will believe you!" I spit into his face, "Everyone knows Peeta Mellark is the best man around this place, you pig!"

Cray staggers a step away from me, and rage fill his features. With the same hand he wipes spittle off his face, he strikes my cheek. And in a blur of movement I'm knocked down on my back with his awful breath hovering on my face, and then his crushing weight is lifted off of me by force.

His body flies against the wall behind him, and Peeta is on top of him, his big hands tightly wrapped around his throat; it takes no time for a terrible sound- like chicken bones cracking- to let me know the man's neck has been broken. There's a small gurgle coming from their corner. Cray's legs twitch for a second, and then they go still.

"I told you... to not... touch her!" Peeta forces out of his mouth, staring blankly at the grotesque face of Cray under him.

A second later, he heaves himself up and staggers my way. He sinks on his knees next to me, and touches my cheek with the tip of his fingers. I wince in pain, and he retrieved his hand.

"I'm sorry I didn't save you in time," he says between puffs of breath.

"But you did!" I sob, while he wipes a tear from my face, "Thank you, thank you, thank you," I lunge myself at him, and kiss him square on the mouth.

He stiffens for a moment, but then relaxes into the kiss, pulling my body to sit sideways on his lap. His erection is extremely hard under my ass, so I wiggle against it. That's when his strong, big hands, grasp my shoulders firmly but gently, and stops my motions.

My face grows red and hot. Of course Cray was wrong, Peeta doesn't want me that way. This is all an involuntary body reaction to all the adrenaline and excitement pumping through our bodies.

I try to slide off him, but he won't let me.

"Katniss, let's get out of here. I don't want to think of this place every time I think back on our first kiss." He looks behind me, and then I suddenly remember there's a corpse in the room.

I nod, "Take me away from here, please."

He picks me up in his arms, and like that, we make it to the top of the stairs.

I don't readily recognize the place. "Where are we?" I ask with my face buried into the crook of his shoulder.

"Abandoned farm, two miles up your mamma's road." He says matter of factly.

He shuffles to his Dodge Ram, and opens the door, putting me in delicately. He goes around and gets in the truck himself, the engine roars to life like a dragon, and we get out of the dusty driveway in a matter of seconds.

Its twilight out, soon to be dark. The country around us is familiar, with lush, tall hay undulating with the wind. I know the road, I just never knew the farm was there, tucked in behind an overgrown forest.

"You wanna go to your house to pick up a change of clothes?" He asks while my sight blurs on the horizon.

"Yes, please." I say wrinkling my nose at the state I'm in.

We get to my house in no time. I walk inside, with Peeta following close behind. Without a word we go into my old bedroom. I haven't been here in almost two years, but everything is as I left it last time I visited.

"Hmm... Is there still running water, do you know?" I ask tentatively.

"Uh... Yeah. We still have running water." He says smiling sweetly at me tearing his eyes away from my small wall board, and the very few pictures hanging from it. He finally points at one, while I approach him, "It seems, I'm in the background of those two," he says sheepishly.

"I-I know," I say lowering my eyes to my hands. I'm wringing my clean change of clothes to death. "That's why I put them up, actually." My face burns with embarrassment.

He tilts my face to his with a finger under my chin. He swallows for a moment, his blue eyes I could get lost in search me, "You've... You... Uh... Since when have you been putting up pictures of me, skulking around you like a creep?" He asks incredulously.

"Oh... Um... A while. Tenth grade maybe?" I say averting my eyes from his scrutinizing ones.

"Why didn't you tell me?" He asks with a slow groan.

"Peeta... I was embarrassed. When Daddy died, you gave me free bread for a month, that only later did I discovered you were stealing from your dad's bakery. Then, you helped me get that job at the grocery store when Leevy broke her arm. And when Cato rear ended me totaling my car and my insurance was worth shit, you sold me yours so cheap, I still can't see how you afforded a new car yourself!" I say biting my lip. "It seems you were always there to help me out. I was sure you thought of me as the biggest looser ever back in school..."

"Never!" He says and kisses my lips hard. "I only did all that to keep you safe!"

"Why?" I ask stupidly against his lips.

He smiles shyly, kissing my cheeks, his thumb caressing the soft spot under my ear, then he whispers, "You know why,"

Theres a tinge of desperation on the way we claw at each other while kissing sloppily. I have no idea when, but he's picked me up and I've wound my legs around his waist. It seems that whatever we started in Cray's dungeon of doom is still alive and going here in the safety of my old bedroom.

I pull insistently on his shirt, my own body preventing it to lift any higher than were my legs are twisted around him, he sets me down on the bed slowly, and takes off his shirt. I struggle with my own ruined one, and chuck it towards the trash can under my old writing desk. I go for his belt buckle, while he leans down to kiss any part of me he can reach.

He undoes my bra, and flicks it behind his back as if it was a crumpled piece of paper. Then he's kneeling on the floor between my legs, kissing my neck, shoulders, clavicle, chest. He palms my breasts and I swear I've never felt anything like it before. I fall backwards, pulling him down on top of me. His lips descend to my very perky nipples, and laves them sensuously over and over. I'm so worked up, I can't stand it.

"Peeta," I whine his name blindly grasping his barely open fly. I maneuver until I've stuck my hand inside his pants. He's so warm, so incredible hard in his underwear. "Please," I beg again.

"What is it that you want, sweetie?" He asks huskily into my ear.

"I want to be yours!" I squeak when his teeth graze my hardened nipple.

"Well, then, I gotta do what my lady commands!" He says smiling against my ribcage.

His nimble fingers find the top of the cargo pants I've been wearing for the last three days, and pulls them down my legs, panties and all. I have no idea where are my shoes, I never found them back at the cellar. It doesn't matter, the wooly socks fly off too. Then I can't bring myself to enjoy anything, since I still feel filthy.

"Peeta," I ask meekly, "Can we take a shower before we continue?"

He pushes up from me with both hands flat on the mattress on either side of my head. His smile is so sweet and shy, my stomach flips.

"You want me to shower with you?" He asks as if I've just offered him all the riches in the world.

"If you want to... I'll understand if you think it's too soon..." I scream when he heaves me up, and rushes me out of my bedroom.

"Where to?" He asks breathlessly.

"First door on the left,"

We continue making out in the bathroom, while I help him shed his shoes, pants and under clothes.

Then I go mute when my eyes finally land on his length.

I've seen men naked. Injured men, mind you, that my mamma tended to at the free clinic. None of them looked like Peeta.

He's so... "Big," I breath out without meaning to. My hand reaches out to touch him with the tip of my fingers. He's still so warm, his skin though, is extremely soft, I wonder what would it feel like if lick it?

Peeta's face goes beet red in an instant. "Well... Um... It can't be any bigger than Hawthorne's," he says anxiously.

My eyes, that probably are as wide as saucers find his eyes, I blink a couple of times, letting his meaning sink in.

"I wouldn't know. Gale and I only dated a couple of times, and then we called it quits cause we fought too much as a couple."

"Oh. So... Um... Any... body else, in Virginia?" He asks, bouncing on the ball of his feet, making his cock bow to me.

"No," I say simply, "Wasn't interested,"

"Fuck." He says scrubbing his eyes with the heel of his hands, realizing what it is I'm saying. "So. You've never...?"

I shake my head, and stare at the ground until his erect penis is all I can see. He lifts my face to his, crushing his lips to mine.

"I'll be so gentle. I'll take care of you. I'll keep you safe." He says kissing me softly, tenderly caressing my sides, then my hips, and finally my buttom cheeks.

We separate long enough to let the water run in the shower. Then we get in and kiss some more.

Gently, his soapy hand lathers me whole, even between my legs, and ass cheeks, I do the same for him. We are both barely sane with want, with all the sensory overload.

He starts washing my hair with Prim's strawberry shampoo, and for the first time I grow self-conscious of my new look. "What do you think of my hair?" I ask quietly.

"It's the prettiest thing I've seen,"

"Ugh! No, really. What do you think?"

He turns me around so my breasts are pressed against his chest. "Katniss, you are gorgeous! Your hair was a bit of a shock at first, but I think it frames your lovely face perfectly. I love it!" He kisses the top of my nose, and leans around me to turn the knobs off.

"Take me to bed, please?" I ask once he's done shutting off the water.

Again, he obliges.

We tumble down on my bed, tasting each other's skins, touching and caressing luxuriously. And then finally, he situates himself between my thighs, which fall wide open for him.

He stares at me for a moment. "It's this real?" He asks with a twinkle in his eye.

"You better believe it," I say in a breathy tone I had no idea I possessed.

"You are the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my whole life," he breathes while staring into my eyes, and then he enters me, slowly, carefully. "Sweetheart, you're so wet. I thought I was going to have a harder time... You feel amazing!" He kisses my lips lovingly.

Of course I'm embarrassingly wet! I'm having sex with Peeta fucking Mellark! The boy I've always thought to be too good for me. Plus after all the touching and the trauma of the night. I'm sure my body it's so in shock it would do anything to keep me from crumbling into a heap. It's not that Peeta's cock slides inside me easily, there's a bit of friction, and my walls have to stretch a little, but I'm not hurting. All I feel is pressure from where his head is piercing through into me slowly.

I sigh against him, once he's completely sheathed. My arms circle his neck, and we kiss long and lazily. He starts moving just so. Very shallowly, very carefully. He nuzzles his face in the hollow of my neck, and drops tiny kisses everywhere.

"Katniss," he moans picking up speed when I decide to move my hips upwards, hitting his pelvic bone and groaning loudly into his ear. "You like that?" He asks out of breath.

I can only moan and nod, so he angles us just right, and do it again.

Our lovemaking is fast turning into straight up fucking. Gone, is the gentle, slow Peeta. In his place is a devil that suck on my skin, nips at my nipples and digs his fingers into the flesh of my hips while pounding into me without mercy. I'm shouting his name now. Begging for faster, harder, again, again, again.

"Sweetheart, I'm gonna cum," he warns me.

I'm not sure what do about it, other than gather my legs up to cradle his hips more snugly, and then the change prompts me to moan his name again, since it feels so amazingly good.

I think he takes my crying out his name as some kind of cue, because he nods, and snakes a hand down my stomach, until his fingers graze a fleshy button I've very seldom mess with myself. I've just never seen what the big whoop is about masturbating, it's enjoyable yes, but nothing mind blowing like every girl I've ever overheard talk about it makes it out to be.

Peeta fumbles around a little, until he does something that makes my body arch harshly and without my permission.

I'm out of breath, when I see him smirk sideways. "There!" He says and swipes a finger over it again.

I arch into him once more, my hands automatically pushing against his muscular arms. He doesn't let up until I'm thrashing under him like a mad woman. I'm producing the most embarrassing sounds I've ever heard, my nails dig into his biceps, I know it most hurt him, but he won't stop now! My mouth goes into a wide O, my jaws hurt, my breath hitches painfully. Something coils deep inside of me, and the next time Peeta's cock pushes into me, forcing his hand on my clit upwards, I wail a none sensual string of words, falling from a precipice I never knew I could climb.

I'm still trying to get back to my senses when I feel him go rigid above me. I open my eyes, that had been tightly shut, and stare at his slacken face. He's beautiful in ecstasy.

He shudders above me, then slumps down, his face buried into my neck. His harsh breath cools down my sweaty face and shoulder.

"That was..." He mumbles into my skin.

"I know," I let out a breathy laugh, and squeeze my arms around his torso.

"You love me, real or not real?" He asks when he's caught his breath.

I take my time, combing back his curls from his damped forehead. "Real," I answer.

"I think we need another shower, before I can take you to Prim and your mother," he says with a tired voice, kissing my temple.

We stay in bed together holding each other almost forty more minutes, before we can extricate each other from our embrace, and shuffle back into the bathroom for a second shower.

 

* * *

 

We make it to the High School Gym, where half the population of our district got shoved in when the invasion reached North Carolina. It takes me a little bit to figure out who to talk to about inquiring for my family's location, but then I see twin blonde pony tails bobbing around the back wall of the gym, looking incredibly busy, and I know I've found my healthcare mamma and sister.

I let go of Peeta's hand that I'd been holding the whole time, and run towards my family. My mother is the first to see me. We aren't very close- mainly my doing- but when she sees me running towards her, the scream of my name that leaves her throat is heartbreaking. Prim looks up right away and sees me too. In a minute we are all wrapped into a knot of arms in the middle of the gym while everyone is gawking.

"I've been calling you every time I get a chance!" Wails mamma.

"I came here! I drove here when I first heard about the war. I needed to be home with you guys. But..." Suddenly, the stress of the last few days crashes down on me, leaving me into a sobbing mess. I can't speak.

My mother and sister realize there's a string of bruises everywhere over my arms and legs, plus the already healing cut above my eyebrow. I know there are hickeys there as well, but when I checked at them in the mirror before heading here, they didn't look too different than the other dark spots around my neck and chest, from my seat belt.

"What happened?" Demands Prim trying to keep her cool.

"I got into an accident, and then... Then..."

"Then, I found her on the road disoriented. She hit a pretty big deer. Her car looked like an accordion. It's a miracle she only got off with so little injuries," says Peeta sidling up next to me.

I look up, confused. But I don't have time to dwell on any of it, when Prim barrels through and hugs him so tight I think she's going to break his windpipes.

"Thank you for taking care of my sister, Peeta!" Her voice sounds muffled into his shirt.

"No problem," he laughs nervously and pats her back awkwardly. "Um... I took her home today so she could get some stuff. I couldn't get anything out of her car. The trunk was sealed shut." He shrugs, lifting the small duffle bag he insisted on carrying for me.

"Thank you, Peeta. I have no words to properly show you my gratitude," says my mamma next, and gives him a more subdued hug.

"I was wondering why you weren't here with the rest of your family," Prim says happily, "I guess it's a good thing you were patrolling the back roads."

The longer we stand there talking, the faster my heart beats. There's something weird going on here, and I'm not sure what it is. Peeta seems happy as a clam though, nothing moves him. And soon he brings his arm around my back.

I see my mother's eyes flit between us in understanding, it takes Prim longer, until Peeta leans in and kisses me on the forehead, for her blue eyes to widened and then smirk devilishly at me.

Deputy Darius walks up to our group, looking worn out.

"Ma'am, we found a couple of wounded people back by Abernathy's road. Apparently the old drunkard can't care enough about the invasion to leave his house, but he will shoot at anyone that dares come close to his property," he grimaces, and then turns to look at me, "Katniss?" He says in an excited, surprised tone, "Is that really you? By golly, you look so beautiful and so sofisticated with that new hair! Wait 'till I tell Lavinia you're back and have changed hair dressers, she'll have you ears for that!" He laughs deeply clapping my back.

Peeta, smiles politely, but I can feel his hands coil more securely around my waist, it matters not that Darius has been married to Lavinia for ages, he just called me beautiful.

"That's my girl," Peeta says jovially, "Always turning heads! Isn't that right, sweetheart?" He says and kisses my cheek in a display of ownership.

I've never pegged Peeta for the jealous type, but... Maybe...

"Darius," I call him before he can take my mamma to her new patients.

"Yeah!" He answers smiling boyishly.

"Mmmm. Have there been any attacks this far inland?" I ask nervously, knowing Peeta is right behind me.

Darius face scrunches up. "There are rumors that a few of them reached the country line, but it's only that, rumors. Our boys are gaining our land back swiftly though, and that's a fact!"

"Good... I think, I think I saw something weird the other day when I arrived in town. I think something spooked the deer while I was driving home. I hit one pretty badly. Um... I was wondering, if it was one of the invaders, you think the enamy would go first for law enforcement if they can?" I ask wearily.

He sighs. "It's anybody's guess, I'll keep an eye out for any strange stuff. I'll also keep an eye out for your car." then he's gone.

"I thought you were going to tell him about Cray," Peeta says quietly against my hair, he hugs me from behind, splaying his hand on my abdomen in a possessive manner.

I shake my head, no.

"You're trying to protect me?" He asks.

I look up at him, then turn in his arms. "The farm," I say, "How did you found me? And please don't lie to me?" I beg him.

He pulls me closer to him, breathes in my scent. "The honest answer," he says slowly, "Your car. I was finishing boarding up the bakery windows, I saw you fly down Main Street. I knew you were going to get Prim. I got into my truck, and took the same route after you, cause they had already been evacuated here. I did find your car and the deer carcass. I was scared shitless when I saw you laying face down on the ground. There was a scary pool of blood under your head.

"I picked you up, put you in my truck, took you to the only place I knew we could be safe for a while."

"Why leave me there alone and scared? I thought I was gonna get killed by some maniac!" I tried to keep the panic off my voice, his arms tightened around me.

"I didn't mean to. It was late the first night, after I cleaned up the deer and tried to move your car. I only got it to sit on the side of the road. You were completely out. The next day I had to go get supplies. I was still trying to get into your car to get your stuff out, but I couldn't. Then I went back to get you, to bring you to your momma's, and I found Cray lurking inside the farm house. Somehow he'd figured I was hiding something cause he saw my truck down the dirt road, and came snooping around until he found the farm. The rest, you already know."

"Why the secrecy?" I spat angrily, trying to push away from him.

"There was no secrecy, Katniss. Only ill timing." He says not letting go of me.

"You let me believe it was Cray holding me hostage there! And then you... you..." My body is shaking like a leaf, my tears soaking his shirt, my voice raw and broken.

And then, he says the one thing I never thought I'd hear from someone as good, sweet and quiet as Peeta Mellark, "I always knew, I'd kill for you, baby. I knew it when I made Leevy trip down those stairs breaking her arm, securing that job for you. I knew it when I caught Cato gloating about not paying for your car, even though it was his fault, and punched him so hard I left his right eye partially blind."

He looks down at me with adoring blue eyes, so sweet and angelic no one would ever believe me if I ever speak of this to anyone. He smiles crookedly at me, "I told Cray not to touch you," he says caressing my cheeks tenderly, with those same hands strong enough to break a man's throat as if it was nothing. "He said he was gonna rape you and then kill you. He threatened Prim. He had it coming, babe, he had it coming," he lowers his lips to mine.

I stopped being afraid of what Peeta could do the moment he told me about Leevy and Cato, in fact I was mesmerized by his account, but once he brought up Cray's threat to Prim, it was a done deal for me. Just as Peeta would kill for me, I would die to keep Prim and him safe.

I will burn in hell for finding his confession arousing. I will burn in hell for finding his actions heroic. I cannot help it, I've had a thing for him ever since he tossed me bread right when my daddy was killed in a work related accident and we were left alone to rot. He was the only person to try to help us in our time of need. Then, I realized he'd been stealing bread from his family bakery the day I saw Peeta's mamma strike him in the face for it.

I started hunting in the woods, and then I started selling my wares. One time, I made sure to grab a particularly fat bunny- Peeta's mamma's favorite- I smothered the thing's skin with crushed nightlock berries. Very poisonous if eaten directly.

I realized the gaping loophole in my plan that very night. I was so scared the woman would share the bunny with her family, I didnt sleep a wink for three days. I was so stupid. The woman didn't die, she was smart enough to wash up the animal before cooking it, but she got a violent round of food poisoning. I'm still reminiscing on just how alike my man and I are, that it startles me when he kisses the tip of my nose.

"Are you mad at me?" He asks tenderly.

"Never!" I say, "I could never be mad at my sweet, tasty morsel,"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you guys enjoyed my little piece. I've been trying to write something passable for the last week and a half and finally ended up with this. Hope it was ok.
> 
> Please review or come say hi on tumblr @Alliswell21.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
